Warden at Shore prison resigns unexpectedly

May 16, 1991

Robert Harleston, warden of the Eastern Correctional Institution in Somerset County, announced yesterday that he is resigning after nearly two years to take up other pursuits.

The retired Army brigadier general's resignation, effective May 31, was neither sought nor expected by Bishop L. Robinson, the state secretary of public safety and correction, according to prison system spokesman Gregory M. Shipley.

Mr. Harleston, 55, was hired by the prison system in June 1989 to take charge of ECI, a prison housing more than 2,300 inmates that had been plagued before and after its 1987 opening with construction and equipment defects, inmate unrest and criminal investigations of some of its correction officers.

The retired general said a recent demand for his resignation by the president of Teamsters Local 103, after several guards reportedly were attacked by inmates and amid complaints of inadequate staffing, was not a factor in his decision to quit.